Caeleb Dressel Gears Up for 50 Breast, 50 Free at ISCA Champs Day 2

2021 ISCA INTERNATIONAL SENIOR CUP

  • March 23 – 27, 2021
  • St. Petersburg, FL (North Shore Aquatic Complex)
  • SCY prelims/LCM finals
  • Schedule (ET)
    • Tuesday: Timed Finals 4:00pm
    • Wednesday – Saturday: 8:00am prelims/5:00pm finals
  • Meet information
  • Psych sheet
  • Life Results on Meet Mobile
  • Thursday Prelims Heat Sheets: Women / Men

World Record holder Caeleb Dressel is scheduled to swim the 50 breast during Thursday’s prelims session at the ISCA International Senior Cup. Two events later we will see him contest one of his American Record-holding events, the 50 free. Both swims follow his narrow victory over fellow Olympic medalist Joseph Schooling and Florida’s Isaac Davis in the 50 fly last night. Thursday’s full event lineup includes the 50 breast, 200 back, 50 free, and 500 free.

After winning the 100 back on Wednesday, Olympic medalist Ryan Lochte was entered in the 200 back and 50 free this morning. He has scratched both events.

The only other scratches from the top 8 in each event are on the men’s side. Olympian Marcelo Acosta from El Salvador and Florida sophomore Tyler Watson both scratched the 500 free where they were ranked 2nd and 3rd, respectively. Acosta just finished competing at the South American Swimming Championships on Friday where he won the 1500 meter free. Both swimmers were only entered in the 500 free on Thursday.

There were also a couple of late entries that were not on the original psych sheets for day 2. Tampa graduate Brett Saunders is now set to swim the 200 back and 50 breast. Northwestern senior Ilektra Lebl overtook the top seed spot in the 500 free by a full second and a half, bumping Stanford commit Meghan Lynch from Greenwich YWCA to 2nd. Previously, Lebl was scheduled to only race the 400 IM and 1500 meter free.

We can look forward to multiple swims from Florida graduate Sherridon Dressel who’s ranked 1st in the 200 back and 3rd in the 50 free. During Wednesday’s finals, Dressel snagged 2nd in the 100 back. Two-time Olympian and Cal grad Farida Osman will race the 50 free, ranked 6th behind 14-year-old Erika Peleaz from Eagle Aquatics by .06. This race comes after Osman’s victory in the 50 fly last night. Virginia commit Zoe Skirboll of Racer X Aquatics also has an exciting double-swim, ranked 1st in the 50 breast and 8th in the 50 free.

On the men’s side, Ethan Beach, a Florida senior, has stepped into the top seed spot in the 200 back while John Conger is set to battle 2nd seed Kanoa Kaleoaloha from Kamehameha Swim Club in the 50 free. Gator Swim Club’s Khader Baqlah was already the top seed in the 500 free before Acosta and Watson scratched, but now his lead on paper has extended to 6.5 seconds.

In This Story

12
Leave a Reply

Subscribe
Notify of

12 Comments
newest
oldest most voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Hmmmm
3 years ago

Dude’s abs look like the eye of sauron

tea rex
3 years ago

Way to bury the lede – Conger in a 2 back? How many years has it been?

CT Swim
3 years ago

If you watch Caelebs 50 fly he was breathing 1 up 1 down. Probably just training for 100 fly pace. And still beat out a very good field

SwimSam
Reply to  CT Swim
3 years ago

His fly definitely seems “on” more of the year than his free, even after dealing with the accident in 2018 he still put together 50.s at nationals and Pan Pacs despite pedestrian freestyles

I still miss Gregg Troy
3 years ago

I’m guessing we see the most casual 18.8 this morning

Mr Piano
3 years ago

I’m interested to see Lochte’s 400 IM. I’m guessing he’ll swim a 4:17.5 or so.

Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

Still amazes me that Troy can beat him to an inch of his live, going 1.5 sec slower than is best 50 fly, and still have in premiere sprint mode when the time comes. No other sprinter does that to this degree. Flo, Fratus, MA, you name it, they all swim pretty close (comparatively) to their best times at least once or twice before the big meet. Case in point, Flo in Marseilles last week.

Skoorbnagol
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

And he still beat Schooling and Conger.
It must mash there heads.

Mr Piano
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

I recall that in 2018, you were very skeptical of the training Troy had Dressel doing. To be honest, I was too, but it seems as though they’ve proven us all wrong somehow. Not only is he wicked fast, but he can be wicked fast throughout an entire week, vice versa to people like Morozov or Ben Proud. No doubt that comes from Troy.

Last edited 3 years ago by Mr Piano
CasualSwimmer
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

I partly agree with you, but I do think Florent still has a lot of room, 21”72 is really far from his 100% (not as far as Caeleb’s 1.5”, but still). Comparing their taper would be pretty interesting, as I don’t think Flo has had any for his last two competitions
Consistency is also pretty important in the sport, and when you look at their ISL 2020 50 free times, Caeleb finished much faster but also started much much slower than Flo, so all in all it’s difficult to compare the two, they have a very different set of strengths and weaknesses !

Last edited 3 years ago by CasualSwimmer
Pvdh
Reply to  Ol' Longhorn
3 years ago

Sometimes these swims seem like extended practices tho. I don’t think Dressel is uncorking everything he’s got for these swims. Maybe just working in stroke counts, starts, turns, etc.

Xman
Reply to  Pvdh
3 years ago

I have that feeling too especially when his first 50 is substantially slower than how he goes out in championship meets, but the second 50 is very close to how he finishes.

I think the point of these races is to be able to back half. And even on the 50 races it’s as if he practicing the first 50 of the 100.

He doesn’t swim this way at the ISL meets. It’s only at the USA Swimming meets.

Last edited 3 years ago by Xman

About Annika Johnson

Annika Johnson

Annika came into the sport competitively at age eight, following in the footsteps of her twin sister and older brother. The sibling rivalry was further fueled when all three began focusing on distance freestyle, forcing the family to buy two lap counters. Annika is a three-time Futures finalist in the 200 …

Read More »